Rittana Childrens Foundation: Nurturing the future today.
is dedicated to all disadvantaged children. Rittana children’s foundation was conceived from Our Hearts. It is dedicated to all disadvantaged children; especially the girl child. It was a dream waiting to be realized. Instead of talking about making a difference, the founding President Ms. Anamika Verma decided it was time to be the difference. With a vision to empower children and restore their childhood, the foundation aims to amplify the voice of every child in distress, faced with discrimination and exploitation. From the creative field herself, she has initiated & created the core programmes for self expression and academic planning. Additionally, as an educationist she founded The Montessori School dedicated to early childhood education. [The Montessori School: Member The International Montessori Council.]

The other members are prominent members of the society from different walks of life but united to a common purpose. A brief on some is:

NAME

OCCUPATION

DESIGNATION IN THE SOCIETY

ANAMIKA VERMA

MONTESSORI EDUCATIONIST AND DESIGN CONSULTANT

PRESIDENT

MANPREET SINGH CHAWLA

REAL ESTATE CONSULTANT

VICE-PRESIDENT

S.RAMANATHAN

DIRECTOR AUTOMOTIVE TEST SYSTEMS

GENERAL SECRETARY

RITTAM MITTAL

MANAGING DIRECTOR TRIGRAMPLUS ASSOCIATES

TREASURER

SANJAY AGGARWAL

MANAGING DIRECTOR ADVANCE INFORMATICS

IT & admin Exec MEMBER

The foundation has been in operation since 2009. We are a non profit society dedicated to the cause of creating sustainable projects that would assist vulnerable children.

We are working towards restoring lost childhood of underprivileged children by providing education, life skills and overall development. RCF, with a vision to empower children, aims to amplify the voice of every child in distress faced with discrimination and exploited by society. We aspire to bring learning and joy into the lives of small children of construction labourers -- by education, nutrition, health care, hygiene education and leisure programmes.

RCF aims at protection and development of children of construction workers by providing holistic integrated programmes that include educative and cognitive development of children between the tender ages of 2 to 14 years. This is the early phase where maximum emotional and educational development occurs.

We also aim to generate awareness and consciousness about the benefits of education, healthcare and nutrition so that these are taken up as a choice and not under coercion / influence.

Our programmes provide basic elementary non formal pre- primary & primary education based on the Montessori Methodology to the children of construction workers with special encouragement to the girl child giving them opportunities for individual growth.

Dedicated to preserving childhood n the dreams that follow.
The Girl child is our inspiration for setting up the foundation. She is we believe, the true Sun Of each Family.…Our future lies in her tiny hands and if nurtured gently she blossoms in to the radical positive force that has the ability to transform lives, families and society. We need to create a window for this Ray of Hope to shine through…a distinct place in our lives…a sense of belonging, a sense of being cherished for who she is….and not rejected by simply being a gender that society discriminates against. Denied her basic rights and opportunities because she was born a girl! Discrimination in poorer children is even more pronounced and becomes a daily experience for children who live in poverty.

2. JUSTIFICATION FOR PROJECT COMPONENT:

Our project is located in Swaran Nagri, Sector-31, Greater Noida, U.P. We are within walking distance of many construction sites making it feasible for the children to come to our centre. The catchments area of our operations is severally lacking in education and support programme facilities for underprivileged children. The entire Greater Noida area is under development and is full of construction sites. As a consequence there is a huge influx of migrant labour from all parts of India. As a NGO & non-profit organisation we need a lot of support to be able to cater to this deprived segment of population and provide the necessary education, healthcare and our other programmes. We additionally work and support children of rickshaw pullers, farmers children ,and children from nearby villages as well.

II. PROJECT DETAILS

“The Blossoming Child”1. OVERALL PROGRAMME OBJECTIVE :

This project caters to a neglected and vulnerable group. The unorganised construction sector is one of the most deprived sections of our society; which does not attract any development or welfare initiative due to the nomadic lifestyle of the construction workers. The construction industry is the second largest employer in India, second only to Agriculture. By a conservative estimate there are at least 2-5 million children on construction sites across the country. As construction changes the landscape of cities and towns, young children running around construction work sites are as common a sight as are the stacks of bricks and cement. Unskilled construction workers in and around Delhi and the NCR region are usually drawn from a pool of landless labourers from the surrounding states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and even some far away ones like Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Typically, these men and women find work as unskilled daily wage workers at construction sites.

Our project –is located in Greater Noida, U.P. Most of the families live at the fringe or subsistence levels. They lead a migratory life with zero job security and live in cramped temporary shacks or shanties on the site, make shift sheds covered with tin /plastic sheets. Their lives are characterised by temporary housing, lack of basic amenities and inadequate welfare facilities. They work under very harsh conditions and make at best the basic minimum wage. Their children, uprooted from their traditional habitat are thrown into an alien environment. The young child accompanying the parents, with no support facilities are left to inadequate sibling care or vagaries of nature. While both parents work, their children are left to fend for themselves on a heap of rubble and concrete with no one to take care of them. They are additionally burdened with house hold chores. The condition of the children is disheartening with no access to basic nutrition, heath care, medical care and no educational facilities. Apart from endangering their own lives, they also divert the attn of their parents from the labour intensive work at the site. RCF lays specific emphasis on the children of construction workers at various construction sites in Greater Noida. The project stresses on special encouragement for the girl child. The girl child suffers much more as it is evident from all available data and reports. The entire burden of sibling care and house hold chores falls on the girl child and they are at a double disadvantage. These young children are vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse on labour sites.

We aim to impact their thought process in developing life long interest in the process and benefits of learning and their conscious decision to carry on with their education. This would create direct awareness in the lives of migrant children and their parents at individual levels on the benefits of education and indirect to our national goal of literacy on a larger scale. They are slowly prepared to be part of the mainstream and join regular schools.

Children who manage to continue with schooling and complete their studies graduate to a secure higher economic strata and become part of mainstream economic life, pursuing diverse careers. We aim to utilize this exposure in rebuilding their individual dignity and lost confidence; also, to improve their nutritional levels and sustain them. Innovative and sustainable development initiatives with community support; which are sustainable, replicable and scalable - this is what we incorporate in our projects.

The girl child is the main beneficiary of this project. Her skills, confidence and learning potential would be enhanced. The girl child would be able equip herself to deal with socio-economic issues that directly impact her life on a daily basis. This directly uplifts her position with in a family and society.

2. PROJECT PURPOSE: Specific goal of project

1. The specific focus of our programs is to ensure a quantum and apparent improvement in the learning levels of the underprivileged children. Another specific objective is to increase the school enrolment levels of our target group.
2. Our NGO aims to provide free education to the children affected by poverty. Coupled with poverty, the poor do not have the opportunity to send their children to school, as they consider them to be breadwinners from a very early age. *Child labour is widely prevalent, with many children forced to work in order to supplement the family income and therefore do not attend school.. We also aim to provide quality education coupled with the all-round development of the children.
3. To get children to attend preschool, thereby increasing the chance that they will continue into Primary schools and will have a better set of school readiness skills.
4. To specifically improve the status of the girl child vis-à-vis our catchments area.
5. To specifically target the children of construction workers and migrant labour in our project area, to ensure a basic educational exposure and uplift their health, nutrition and life skills.

PROJECT WORKPLAN
The project aims to educate, support and positively impact the lives of over 300 children in the academic year 2018 - 2019 (starting April session 2018)
We work with children of construction workers and underprivileged sections of society and aim at providing them with an authentic Montessori preschool experience & functional literacy in our foundation combined with holistic programmes of arts, crafts, leisure, hygiene education, healthcare and nutrition.

Additionally resources are directed towards a daily meal for each child that aims to strengthen their immunity and overall health condition and provides a direct incentive for the children to attend school regularly.

The support generated is used towards providing a holistic healthcare plan for these children including basic health screening, medications, immunization programmes and regular health checkups and treatment in collaboration with our partners in healthcare.

We additionally conduct mental health workshops to counsel children in distress and uplift their mental health levels.

The foundation works with transparency in utilization of funds to directly benefit the children.
The programme director and coordinator regularly supervise and monitor the project and quarterly reports are furnished. Quarterly reports comprise summaries on monthly curriculum, child assessments and progress, nutrition programmes summary , workshops conducted and health screening status per child.

Education programme: Our Direct programmes comprise of focussed interventions, where our team plans, conducts and phases the programs .The area under approach is Greater Noida.

The programmes are typically conducted within the space of our foundation where we have set up learning centres .The foundation is located in the vicinity of construction sites. The children come from extremely low income backgrounds and do not have any access to any schooling facility.

Our staff is mobilised and teacher training is facilitated and the regular progress of the programme is monitored.

At the beginning of every academic year, we undertake a survey of local construction sites and some basic questions are asked.
1. Does the child have preschool school experience?
2. Does the child go to school?
3. Does the child know reading, writing and arithmetic?
4. Do the children have access to books and study material?

The parents of these children at each construction site are counselled to send their to our study centre. The aim is to increase the enrolment and learning levels of these children. We aim to build social, emotional, motor, cognitive skills of the preschoolers and to prepare the children to adjust to school environment .These programmes also help tackle the problems of retention and achievement at a nascent stage since most of the parents are illiterate and totally unable to help children in early childhood education.

If the children attend preschool, then there is a significantly higher chance that they will continue into Primary schools and will have a better set of school readiness skills.

The programs conducted under direct intervention approach include
1. Preschool education
2. Learning support programs of functional literacy
3. Mainstreaming out of school children.

We have set up a learning preschool centre for children in the age group of 3 to 6 years and functional literacy classes for the children above 7 years of age .We provide full academic year learning support focussing on school framework curriculum and backed up by Montessori curriculum which supports hands on learning approach. Our target for this year {2018-19} is to further support and positively impact the lives of 300 children . Our education programmes are divided into 4 levels – Pre-Nursery, Nursery, KG & Functional Literacy.

The schooling experience comprises of classes being conducted for 4 hours daily with a planned daily, weekly and monthly curriculum; from 0900hrs to 1400hrs, 5 days a week. We do not shut for summer vacations to prevent children getting out of the habit of attending school.

Approx 20 to 25 children gather in each class everyday and learn to engage with numbers, shapes, colours ,art work stories , poems and songs .Our teachers and assistants are trained in early childhood care and education and classroom progress is monitored on a regular basis. Their qualifications include PG Diploma holders in Montessori Training, BA (Hons) NTT & PTT. Our classrooms assistants are all senior secondary level or equivalent. Additionally, we have a support staff for security/caretaker and housekeeping. All staff is on our rolls and are paid a monthly salary.

We aim to build and strengthen the reading, writing and arithmetic skills of children. .Children who are unable to undertake age and grade specific reading, writing and arithmetic are helped to build their language and numeric skills and aided to read simple texts.
Children are assessed on their reading and arithmetic levels and grouped on to the basis of levels of knowledge.
All activities are built from that level onwards .Once the level each child is determined, and then techniques are used with each child to help improve his /her skill sets.
Results are evaluated before and after the interventions and the Montessori methodology further aides in increasing the learning levels of children quickly..
Once basic reading skills are built, they are taught how to read with comprehension and express what they have learnt.

We have conceptualized an awareness education programme in a child-centric environment using extensive learning material to educate, train, stimulate and encourage young children in to learning by Montessori curriculum which encourages learning by doing in a child friendly and age appropriate manner. Play-way and Art therapy are a big feature of our programmes. Stress on functional literacy and providing non formal pre primary education is our objective. We aim to inspire, sensitize, motivate and educate young children with an education programme using a hands-on learning approach. Practical exercises and activities would enable children to learn and imbibe comprehensively. Special teaching aids shall be used to make learning easy along with traditional concepts like story book reading, song sessions and art n craftwork. We provide colourful and interactive books. Fun filled activities, drawing, skill building, recreation workshops additionally enhance confidence.
The objective is to make learning fun, encourage creative expression, build and sustain children’s interest in learning.

Learning material books, note books, supplies, stationery kit, art & craft material are provided free of cost to all our underprivileged children in proper set up classrooms equipped with all essential training aids and furniture.

Nutrition programme: Such children are usually severely malnourished due to poor nutrition and eating habits. As a result they are prone to infections and diseases which inhibit their growth. In order to aid in improving their nutritional levels. We aim to provide daily fresh hot nutritious meals, nutritious snacks and drinks on a daily basis during school hours. It would include a well balanced snack plan like seasonal fruit, milk, buns, cake, curd, juice, biscuits, idli, fruit juices etc. This help’s in strengthening their immune system and building resistance to infections. Chocolates & sweets are given on special occasions. We have now aiming at providing daily fresh nutritious hot meals to our children in our upgraded Nutritional Programme .

The snack also work’s as an additional incentive to ensure regular attendance by children. The snacks and drinks are provided free to all the children. The children are provided with safe drinking water which they do not have at their homes.

Health care programme: Health camps are conducted to determine the overall health of the children. Basic physical examination and health screening is guaranteed to each child by qualified teams in alliance with our partners in healthcare. This is followed by a vaccination and immunisation drive every quarter (such as Vitamin A doses, DPT, Hepatitis B, MMR, de-worming ).

Hygiene education and sanitary education are imparted in order to equip our children with basic tools of staying healthy; as they learn about hygiene in our workshops. These workshops contribute in improving a child’s overall health, hygiene and living conditions and encourage development of life skills. There is a high prevalence of water and sanitation related diseases causing children in particular to fall ill or even die. Improved hygiene practices are essential if transmission routes of water and sanitation related diseases are to be cut down. Appropriate hygiene education can bring about the intention to change hygiene behaviour.

Childhood is the best time for children to learn hygiene behaviour as active participants they can become change agents within their families and a stimulus to community development. School health and hygiene education concerns all activities that promotes health and reduces health risks of school children. Hygiene education primarily aims at changing behaviour towards good or safe practices in relation to personal, water, food, domestic and public hygiene .It also aims to protect water supplies and promote safe management of environment ,in particular the management or disposal of solid and liquid waste.

Focus on mental health workshops is emphasised to work with the traumas faced by our children and to equip them to deal with their reality via counselling. The health camps additionally target parents & other family members to give the benefit of free checkups & super-specialty hospital investigations.

Leisure programme: Play and leisure are prime needs of any child to enable happiness and healthy development. We aim to provide our children a joyous environment where they can play and experience the joys of childhood. This includes games, play equipment, puzzles, toys, books to provide rejuvenation and recreation.

We also use funds for:
1. Providing basic clothing to those children deficient of the same
2. Administrative costs like salaries, electricity, housekeeping etc.
3. Staff monthly allowance for the work that they undertake.
4. Research to fine tune and further develop and upgrade our programme.
5. Maintenance of facilities.
6. Training of technical staff and teachers

3.MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Direct Beneficiaries: The no of children registered and impacted from inception of our programmes currently are over 3000. Our project aims to enrol, work, support and impact lives of at least another 300 children by the end of 2018.
A very important point to be noted is that the geographical spread of the area covered under the intervention of the foundation has a huge proportion of migrant population. An added factor is the dynamics of the construction industry; for example - a whole group of labourers simply migrate to another site in search of work!

This makes the task of tracking the progress and state of the migrant child even more difficult. The plight of the migrant child has hardly attracted any attention from policy makers .These children accompanying their migrant parents are absent from all planning processes for the urban and rural segments. Deprived of access to uninterrupted educational, medical facilities and govt schemes, these children also suffer from psychological impact of unfamiliar places and people.

Our programmes have already supported and impacted over 3000 children and their families. We have come a long way since 2008 in actively running our grassroots level initiatives.

We aim at strengthening the inner capabilities of children to develop their self-sustainability. We also aim to make children and their families aware of their right to education and encourage them to continue with their education by helping them integrate into the mainstream formal education system.
The additional beneficiaries are the siblings, their families, immediate community, the new community to where they migrate; people directly employed by RCF; etc.

Activity 1 and how this will be carried out:
All our interventions, targeted at enhancing the learning levels of children, are assessed through pre, mid and post intervention evaluations. Before initiating any intervention, the children are tested on their age and grade specific reading and arithmetic levels. Based on their performance they are grouped into 5 categories. For the reading component, children are categorized into those who cannot read, those who can read only letters, those who can read words, those who can read a paragraph and those who can read a story. For arithmetic, the levels are those who cannot read anything, those who can recognize numbers, those who can add, those who can subtract and those who can divide. In the middle of the intervention the same test is repeated to judge the progress and make changes in the program if required and in the end to assess the impact of the program.

Activity 2 and how this will be carried out:
Pre & post tests are carried out. We conduct informal tests / assessment of each child on enrolment. This gives us a basic development indicator from where we build.
Each month the child is assessed on his/her progress and progress is judged in comparison to initial levels.

Activity 3 and how this will be carried out:
Monthly attendance of child is maintained to evaluate % of attendance achieved. This is a direct indicator of the effectiveness of our programme and generation of the child’s interest in education.

Activity 4 and how this will be carried out:
The health record of the child is maintained from day one. On induction the child’s health parameters are recorded and a medical evaluation added in the first health camp the child participates {within maximum of 2 months}. A health camp is conducted every quarter and the statistics recorded.
Immunization records are kept and updated every quarter and children are regularly immunised as per doctors advice.

Activity 5 and how this will be carried out:
Registration information of children is taken in detail on the day of enrolment. The information contains complete data on background, family, caste, income, etc.
This data helps evaluate the total number of registration vis-à-vis those who complete the programme. The data is a direct indicator of the outreach of our programme.

5.SITUATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS AND RISKS:

Due to construction activity in this area for the next many years there will be enough children to justify our project area viability.

There are other children like those of rickshaw pullers, poor farmers, general poor / underprivileged kids from nearby villages & semi-urban areas.

Due to constant influx of migrant labour in this area, there will be enough children to justify our project area viability.

Government plans & policies will improve in their outlook towards child and women welfare and provide additional resources to us.

The number of patrons / donors to our society / cause will grow enabling better implementation of our programmes.

6.IMPACT ASSESSMENT:

The foundation works with transparency in utilization of funds to directly benefit the children.
The programme director and coordinator regularly supervise and monitor the project and quarterly reports are furnished.
Quarterly reports comprise summaries on monthly curriculum, child assessments and progress, nutrition programmes, workshops conducted and health screening status per child.
Qualitative, academic & other appropriate data, will be continuously gathered for all children. All sociological and academic data so gathered over a period of 3 years will be compared to indicate attendance, academic performance, health status, community feedback and effect of intervention/service on behaviour and attitude.
We can thus establish links with our objectives vis-à-vis our outcomes.

7. SUSTAINABILITY:

We have been operational as an NGO for 9 years. Most of the work has been sustained through individual efforts. We seek sustained funding and not just funds to kick start an effort. Our supporters / donors should help the cause by providing support which helps us meet/realize the outcomes of our project. We are a new organisation and we need partners to strengthen our hands by supporting our cause and helping to make a strong organizational and project base. No NGO or organisation can bring about social change in isolation.

1. We plan to increase our partner funding.
2. We will actively seek and plan to increase sources and quantum of future grants and donations through individuals or corporate funding.
3. Increase our volunteers / friends of RCF base.
4. Keep working on fundraising activities.
5. We will seek the Govt. support and intervention. Govt needs to finance successful NGO schools. This enhances educational opportunities for the children of economically and culturally disadvantaged households and supports educational pluralism.
6. Increase our contacts with the community, VO’s & other NGOs and seek their active support

8. PHASE OUT STRATEGY:

As we have mentioned before, our current project area is Greater Noida. This is a new township and it is estimated that the construction and development activities here will continue for at least another 20 years. Thus, there will be immense scope to impact the lives of numerous children and benefit the community by a continued programme. Our project is deep-seeded and has a long-term goal to impact the lifestyle and mindset of the migrant community.
We are a pan India society and not restricted to Greater Noida or any other
particular location. The future geographical imprint will be decided by the
level of funding and the need of the hour / community. We plan to expand by
replicating our model and open 2 more centres to start with. Likely locations may be
Chennai/Pune/Bangalore........

9. CONCLUSION:

Achievements:

1. Providing relevant and quality education for disadvantaged children and fulfilling the promise of Right to Education for the children of one of the most neglected segments of the Indian population – the migrant labour & construction workers
2. Providing healthcare, hygiene education and nutrition benefits.
3. Positively impacting the mindset of the parents and the entire community to which our target children belong in order to improve the plight of the migrant child.
4. Moving towards restoration of lost childhood and dignity.
5. Reducing child labour and eliminating child labour from hazardous occupations and processes.
6. Improving the status of the girl child. Focussing on educational needs of rural children in general with primary attention given to girls.

Major difficulties:

1. To track the impact in the lives of the migrant community.
2. To maintain contact and ensure continued community participation.
3. To ensure that the children attend school regularly.
4. Sustaining health, hygiene & nutrition levels brought about by our programme.
5. Running the project without any Govt. grants or support.
6. National goals for poverty reduction and literacy cannot be realised, unless the problem of labour mobility and its impact of children is squarely addressed.
7. Scarcity of funds.